Cellulose-ether composition and method of making the same



UNITED STATES PATENT omen.

HANS T. CLARKE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GELL'ULOSE-ETHER COMPOSITION METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that I, HANS T. CLARKE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cellulose-Ether Compositions and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following isby ordinaryphotographic fluids and possess the desired properties of a support for sensitive photographic coatings. Another object of my invention is to produce a composition "of matter capable of easy manipulation in the plastic and film making or varnish making arts; which will not injure or be injured by the substances with which it is associated during manufacture, storage or use, Still another object of my invention is to provide a process for compounding su'ch composition of matter. Yet another object isto produce a composition having flame resisting properties or relative non-inflammability. Further objects will hereinafter apear. I p l have discovered that a composition of matter having the desirable qualities hereinabove enumerated, can be obtained by mixing or compounding cellulose ether of the type described in United States Patent No. 1,188,37 6, granted June 20,1916 to Leon Lilienfeld, with sulfones. The compounding is best performed by using a solvent common to cellulose ether and the particular sulfone employed. The sulfones which I have found to be most advantageous areof the type indicated by the following formulae in which A'and 13 represent various alkyl and sometimes aryl groups: 1

\SOQ i 3 There are noted, for example,normal dibutyl sulfone, diisobutyl sulfone,dimethyl Specification of Letters Patent.

be put.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Application filed March 17, 1919. Serial No. 283,230.

sulfone, diethyl sulfone, normal dipropyl sulfone, diisopropyl sulfone, diisoamyl sulfone, methyl ethyl sulfone, diheptyl sulfone,

ethyl isoamyl sulfone, and diphenyl sulfone.

These may he used in conjunction as well as used singly, and the degree .of purity necessary in these substances will depend upon the purposes to which the composition is to gards boiling point, volatility, and solubility in water, they are all useful in varying ways in different branches of the plastic arts in connection with cellulose ether. These sulfones all have high boiling points and are very stable. The latter property is particularly essential in the photographic art where the liberation of break-down sulfur products might impair thelight-sensitive coating.

'Other properties appear in various degrees in their homologues and derivatives.

For flexible film and varnish manufacture, the sulfone should be so nearly non-volatile that its loss during the desired life of film will not be sufiicient to make the latter unso serviceable. They are relatively flame resisting or slow burning compounds and when mixed with cellulose ether, which is itself almost incombustible, they impart the flame resisting quality to the product in a very as useful degree.

As a typical useful example of the sul fones which may be employed in exercising my invention, the normal dibutyl sulfone is selected. It is a White solid at ordinary tem- 9 peratures and its boiling point is above 250 (3., so that its volatility when compounded with cellulose-ether is practically m'Z. It. is substantially insoluble in water and very stable. In carrying out one illustration of my invention, 1 incorporate in 15 to 30 parts of a chloroform, alcohol mixture, 3 to 6 parts (say, for instance, 5parts) of cellulose ether, to 10 parts of dibutyl sulfone. The chloroform and alcohol may be in various'lol) proportions, a three to one mixture being satisfactory. Instead of chloroform and alcohol being usedas the common solvent, 1 may employ benzol and alcohol mixed, for

example, in equal proportions. The ingreclients are mixed to form a homogeneous so-- I lution or flowable mass and are filtered if.

desired. The alcohol may be the ordinary ethyl variety.

The solution is sufliciently thick and viscous to be properly flowed during sheetor film manufacture, the volatile'solvents vola- While these substances differ as re- 5 the principle of my tilizing but not too rapidly to impair the product. The resulting film containing the cellulose ether and sulfone is very flexible, transparent, anduniform, so that it can be used for any usual or preferred purpose It is practically Waterproof and unaffected by ordinary photographic chemicals. The sulfones are so stable that they do not in i any appreciable degree eliminate products which injure metal or other parts with which they come in contact during manufacture; and moreover do not chemically react with or injure the other bodies that are associated with them in the solution or the completed film. While I have hereinabove;

disclosed certain compositions and processes by way of example, my invention is not limited thereto nor to the proportions given therein, as .the proportions may be varied from thosegiven and equivalent substances may be substituted without departing from the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to. secure by Letters Patent is:

1.'A transparent composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether and a sulfone.

'2. A composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether and a simple dialkyl sulfone. 3. A composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether and a dibutyl sulfone.

4:. A composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether, a simple dialkyl sulfone, and a solvent common to both.

invention as defined in cellulose ether, a dibutyl sulfone, and a solvent common to both.

6. A fiowable film-forming composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether, a sulfone, and a solvent containing chloroform and alcohol. i

. 7. A composition of matter comprising a cellulose ether, a dibutyl sulfone, and a solvent containing chloroform and alcohol.

- 8. A composition of matter celluloseether 3 to 6 parts, dibutyl sulfone l; to 10 parts, and a chloroform alcohol mixture 15 to 30 parts. i

9. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of a deposited or flowed cellulose ether con taining a simple dialkyl 'sulfone. Y

1O. As an article of manufacture, a sheet of a deposited or flowed celluloseether con* taining a dibutyl sulfone;

11. The process of making a composition of matter which consists combining a cellulose ether and a sulfone in a solvent common to both.

12. The process of making a composition of matter which consists in combining a cellulose ether and a dibutyl 'sulfone by the use of a solvent containing chloroform and alcohol. v

'- 13; A tough, flexible, transparent flowed sheet comprising cellulose ether and a sul-' fone. Y

Signed at Rochester, New York, this 15th day of March, 1919. V

HANS T. CLARKE.

comprising a 

